Girls Are Mad

I didn’t go to the show when The Ettes played at a free bar Downtown early last year. The Nashville-based band wasn’t on my radar anyhow, so I felt no regret about missing it ... until a week later when I finally opened the 12-inch record that a friend, knowing I would like it, had bought for me at the show as a souvenir. Bright yellow in color, the LP—2008’s London-recorded Look At Life Again Soon—contained 11 distortion-heavy, ’70s glam-tinged tracks of female-fronted rock and roll. Since then, that record—now a prized possession—has received heavy rotation by me at home and in public drinking establishments.

Pianist Omar Sosa’s Afreecanos Quartet communes with the spirits

By Mel Minter

Cuban pianist, marimbist and composer Omar Sosa plays up and down the tree of music, sounding its deepest African roots and the greenest buds in its ever-spreading canopy. Every note summons listeners to a joyful ceremony of communion.

The psych-pop of UV Transmission

By Captain America

Have you ever walked into a bar intimidated by the row of hogs and Harleys parked out front? Wondered about the reception you’d get from the bikers partying down inside? It wasn’t quite that way with the dozen Vespa, Lambretta and Velocette knockoffs lining the sidewalk in front of the Fabulous Dingo Bar (now Burt’s Tiki Lounge) when UV Transmission was headlining. Rather than wielding chains and wearing leathers, these riders sported one-button blazers, Cuban heel boots and M65 parkas with the Royal Air Force insignia on the back. The crowd was there not to pogo or mosh (thankfully!) but to dance.

Sublime Sonics

The scary little people hidden in the trees want to you know that Monday, April 19, sees performances of animal-sound music and different forms of drone by Infinite Body, EARN, Lab Rat and Postcommodity. The show begins at 8 p.m. at Thundermind Corrective, and for $5 you might find out what “intense loud doom drone” means. (Jessica Cassyle Carr)

Ben Goldberg packs a lot of music in his clarinet case—including jazz, Ashkenazi roots music and chamber music. His latest combo features musicians with unfettered imaginations willing to roam the entire musical landscape: Ron Miles (cornet, G trumpet), Charlie Hunter (seven-string guitar) and Scott Amendola (drums). Together, they create something approaching a jazzy, groove-based klezmer blues—or maybe it’s just Southern rock all growed up and moved to the big city. The 10 Goldberg compositions (with help from brother Ethan on one) move smoothly from lyrical composed passages to disciplined but adventurous improvisations. Hunter is clearly the oddest and most indispensable part of the combo, supplying a fierce rawness in the upper registers and coherent bass lines simultaneously. The four live tracks add special piquancy to this tasty brew.

Yule Logs and Jingle Balls • Holly Rebelle • Mena Domina • burlesque

By Devin D. O'Leary

Gilded Cage Burlesk and Varieté is definitely getting on Santa's Naughty list with Yule Logs and Jingle Balls: A Very Risqué, Very Glittery, Very Burlesque Ode to the Holidays. Burlesque dancers, sideshow performers, drag acts and more join forces to celebrate this most sparkly of holidays in grand style…